Pavlov’s Dog
by Annie Sparklecakes
Summary: [Oneshot] Everyone has a different word for Lenalee. Any and every one of them can fit her. [Implied pairings]


**This is an experiment in every way, so comments are welcome!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything someone else does.**

**Pavlov's Dog**

_i._

When Lavi thinks of Lenalee, he thinks _beautiful_.

He knows he can't be the only one to think so, but he's the only one who will admit that she's so lovely, every glance he takes of her is like a kick to the stomach. She takes his breath away whenever she smiles at him, and whenever she touches him, he feels a painful clenching in his chest.

Lavi is not a romantic. He doesn't think you have to be one to appreciate Lenalee's beauty.

(He thinks he might be in love with her.)

_ii._

Kanda never uses Lenalee's name, not even in his thoughts, where she appears often, and always accompanied by the word _whole_.

Kanda has known her for a long time. He remembers when she first came to the Order, and she would cry and yell to _go home, please let me go home_. He remembers that she tried to kill herself, and when she was caught, she was strapped to the bed. He can recall passing by her room and taking a peek inside, long enough to take in her tear-stained face and soft mumbles of "I want… to go home."

And then her brother arrived and she wasn't alone, and three years later (was it that long?) she was bubbly and cheerful and always _there_, smiling and holding coffee and the heart of the Black Order.

And it's so hard to believe that this wonderfully complete person could come from someone who was so _broken_; a shell crying out for someone, anyone to hear her.

(He heard her.)

_iii._

Allen is closer to Lenalee than he is to anyone else in the Order. And although the first person he met was Kanda, the first person he properly spoke to was Lenalee, who smiled at him and appeared just before the dark-haired Exorcist could impale him with Mugen.

She was his savior then, and she still is, when she attacks an Akuma before it can get to him, or when she tucks him in when he falls asleep before he can get under the covers, or when she _always_ finds him something to eat because she knows he gets hungry easily.

But he doesn't think of her as just a savior. She's too pretty, too pure, too kind-hearted to be anything less than an _angel_.

(He's been called cursed; maybe he's actually blessed.)

_iv._

Komui loves his sister more than he does anyone else in the world. She is the reason he worked so hard to get into the Order, the only family he has left, and the one person he'd do anything for.

When Komui think of Lenalee, he thinks, _perfect._

Because she is perfect. She's his baby sister, and will always _be _his baby sister; his pride and joy, who's beautiful and wonderful and charming and sweet and brave and always brings him coffee and stands up for him and stops him from making mistakes and—

He knows she will always be there for him, and he makes sure she knows he'll do the same.

(He will never let her be alone again.)

_v._

Krory is a bit shy, and a bit anxious, but Lenalee never seems to mind. She smiles brightly and takes his hand in her own, much softer one when she meets him for the first time, with no hint of fear for his appearance or disdain for his naivety.

Krory thinks Lenalee is, in a word, _sweet_.

Because she always smiles at him when she sees him, and it always makes his day that much brighter. She always encourages him to continue on his chosen path as an Exorcist, never pushing him with orders, or pulling at him with lies and cruel words, like he was once so accustomed to. She sometimes curls up beside him in front of a fire and listens while he speaks of Eliade, and how much he loved her, and how she broke him, and she puts her hand on his arm and says:

"If you want to cry, I promise I won't tell anyone." And then she smiles, her eyes crinkling and lips curving and he thinks there should be more people like her in the world, because if there were, he would've grown up differently.

(He wishes she could know someone so kind, then resolves to be that someone.)

_vi._

Miranda feels that she is a bit useless, and inferior to a lot of people, including Lenalee, who is _brave._

The first time they meet, Lenalee is fighting – not only for her own life, not even _primarily_ for her life, but for Allen and Miranda and her town.

Lenalee fights through her injuries, and she never lets Miranda get into a position that will cause her pain, even if the older woman's weakness will hurt her.

Lenalee is brave and strong and a fighter, and Miranda wishes to be like her someday. But she knows it will never happen, because there is only one Lenalee Lee, and Miranda isn't her.

(She wishes anyways, because maybe the only one that can understand and help Lenalee—is Lenalee.)

_vii._

Bookman watches over Lenalee when she's ill or wounded, and he won't let himself look away, because he fears that if he does, she might disappear, because Lenalee is so _fragile._

She is a powerful Exorcist, and a force to be reckoned with. She dives into a fight without a thought if it's to save someone. She never backs down, and she'll almost always _win_.

But she's still fragile, he knows as he watches her sleep, her pale skin disappearing among the white sheets she's rolled up in. And he does everything he can for her, and a little more, because even though she's the toughest girl he knows, she's still someone who's been broken too many times, and eventually, she might not heal.

(He won't let that happen, though; she needs to be strong for everyone else, after all.)

_viii._

Bak might not be very close to Lenalee (how can he be, when she is so far away?), but he knows he has feelings for her, and he knows why: it's because Lenalee is gorgeous, kind, and brilliant and _amazing_.

She always knows everything, because she listens to what people have to say. And she is so compassionate and so loving and so gentle, that people want to speak. Because Lenalee is the kind of person you look for when something goes wrong, because you know she can fix it.

Because Lenalee can do anything, and that's what he admires most about her, even if it's from afar, because he could never tell someone like her how he feels—because she's too wonderful for him.

(He still looks at her pictures, though, and wishes he had the real thing.)

_ix._

Reever sometimes feels like Lenalee's _other_ brother, but he knows he's not and he never will be. Because to Komui she might be the world, but to Reever it's different: She's the heart of their world, the world of the Black Order. She is _vital _to them.

She's the one who brings coffee to them and cheers them up when they're down, and brings an entire organization together. She gives strangers something in common, because she is a girl anyone can admire, that everyone would like to know.

Without her, everything would fall apart, and Reever knows this better than anyone.

So he watches over her like an older brother. He would be proud to have her as a sister.

(He settles with being part of the family she's created at Headquarters; it's the only thing that makes him feel like he belongs.)

_x._

Lenalee does not think of herself as beautiful or complete or an angel. She knows she isn't perfect or sweet or brave, and she has never thought of herself as fragile or amazing or vital.

She thinks of herself as nothing but Lenalee, and she'll never know what everyone else thinks… she can never know she's affected so many people, touched so many hearts.

She just lives the way she always has, because it's all she knows, and she hopes it is enough. She'll laugh with Allen and Lavi, and bring coffee for her brother and the Science Department, and smooth over the problems Kanda creates, and listen to Krory and talk to Miranda and see to Bookman's needs and – although unknowingly – be Bak's perfect girl.

(Because she'll never understand, but Lenalee is everything just by being Lenalee.)


End file.
